Feeding a revolution — Formerly "farmers Market Vegan"

Welcome to “Chickpeas & Change”!

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to the new iteration of my blog: Chickpeas & Change!

A new name AND a hand-drawn logo!

About a month ago, I expressed my desire to re-frame the blog – formerly known as “Farmers Market Vegan” – with a new name and manifesto that de-centered vegan consumption practices and focused on radical politics grounded in anti-speciesist, anti-racist, and feminist principles. With your help, I decided to celebrate the blog’s new direction under Chickpeas & Change, where I hope to play a small part in feeding a revolution toward collective liberation for all beings.

Of course, if I couldn’t recognize my own intellectual arrogance in regards to other animals, I certainly couldn’t recognize how that same arrogance rendered me complicit in the oppressive relationships between colonizers and colonized (colonialism), Westerners and “traditional” societies (imperialism), owners and consumers (capitalism), and the like.

After this wake-up call – instigated thanks to the groundbreaking work of feminist, anti-racist, and anti-speciesist activists (many of whom are listen on my Resources page) – the reasons behind my veganism experienced a profound shift. Once a consumer boycott at the forefront of my politics, my veganism morphed into one among many attempts to question the default ideologies – in this case, speciesism – under which I’ve operated since childhood, and that infringe upon my ability to coexist with others. In other words, my veganism has become an extension of my efforts to foster a truly anti-speciesist politics – a means rather than an end.

Today, I conceptualize my broader politics as a never-ending practice of radical humility grounded in seeking an always imperfect understanding of interlocking oppressions, and guided most by feminist and anti-racist principles.

Striving to challenge these interlocking oppressions in the movement with which I’m most familiar (aka, animal liberation), an integral aspect of my intersectional activism involves confronting the problematic aspects of the current vegan movement, including its racism, sexism, ableism, and focus on capitalist, consumer-based strategies.

Because these oppressions would exist even if I did not eat a vegan diet, and my giving up vegan consumption habits would prevent me from truly challenging my own internalized speciesism, combating such exploitative facets of today’s vegan movement does not involve dismissing vegan consumer habits altogether. However, in order to de-center vegan consumption practices in my anti-speciestist activism, I try to focus on framing species-based oppression as a social justice issue that we must necessarily eradicate on the path toward collective liberation for all beings, to support the work of marginalized anti-speciesist activists, and to de-colonize my mind from all dominant ideologies of violence.

Of course, throughout this exhausting yet fulfilling work, I gotta eat. That’s where the chickpeas come in. So join me in building up the feminist, anti-racist, anti-speciesist community, fueled by plenty of sandwiches, smoothies, and ice cream.

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8 thoughts on “Welcome to “Chickpeas & Change”!”

I’m so excited for this new step in your blogging adventure! I just love the new direction you’re going in and can’t wait to see where it takes you. I’m excited to continue reading your activist voice framed in an even more overtly political setting.